UNIT III: OTHER USES OF PRIMARY AND MODAL AUXILIARIES

UNIT III: OTHER USES OF PRIMARY AND MODAL AUXILIARIES

III.1. SPECIAL USES OF PRIMARY AUXILIARIES:

BE, HAVE, DO

1. The BE + INFINITIVE construction

* This structure is often used to talk about arrangements which have been planned.

The Queen is to visit Japan next year. (=It has been arranged that the Queen…) There’s to be a rail strike on July 18th.

The structure can also be used in the past, to talk about arrangements which were planned. If the expected event did not happen, the perfect infinitive can be used.

I felt nervous because I was to leave home for the first time. I was to have started work last week, but I changed my mind.

Sometimes the reference is not to planned arrangements, but to ‘destiny – things which were hidden in the future, ‘written in the stars’.

When we said goodbye, I thought it was for ever. But we were to meet again, many years later, under very strange circumstances.

* Be + infinitive can also be used to give orders. (Parents often tell children to do things in this way.) You’re to do your homework before you watch TV. (You must do your homework…)

Tell her She’s not to be back late.

* Be about + infinitive can express the immediate future:
They are about to start = They are just going to start/They are on the point of starting.

2. The HAVE + OBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE construction

This construction can be used to express more neatly sentences of the type ‘I employed someone to do something for me’; i.e. instead of saying I employed someone to clean my car we can say I had my car cleaned, and instead of I got a man to sweep my chimney, we can say I had my chimney swept.

Note that this order of words, i.e. have + object + past participle must be observed as otherwise the meaning will be changed:

He had his hair cut means he employed someone to do it, but
He had cut his hair means he cut it himself sometime before the time of speaking (past perfect tense)

When have is used in this way the negative and interrogative in its present and past tenses are formed with do.

Do you have your windows cleaned every month?
I don’t have them cleaned; I clean them myself.
He was talking about having central heating put in. Did he have it put in in the end?

Get can be used in exactly the same way as have above but is more colloquial:
I must get my clothes laundered urgently. I look like a tramp.
Get is also used when we mention the person who performs the action. In this case we use an infinitive.

construction:

She got poor old Jim to dig away the snow.

The have + object + past participle construction can also be used colloquially to replace a passive verb, usually one concerning some accident or misfortune. The meaning here is to experience an event or action by means of an external agent.

He had two of his teeth knocked out in the fight = Two of his teeth were knocked out in the fight. He had his fruit stolen before he had a chance to pick it up = His fruit was stolen before he etc.

3. The HAVE + OBJECT + PRESENT PARTICIPLE construction

This construction is used with two different meanings:

1.- I’ll have you driving in three days = as a result of my efforts, you will be driving in three days. 2.- If you give all-night parties you’ll have the neighbours complaining.

If film-stars put their numbers in the telephone books they’d have everyone ringing them up.
you’ll have in the first example conveys the idea ‘this would happen to you’. Similarly they’d have in the

second example conveys the idea ‘this would happen to them’.

4. DO: auxiliary verb in affirmative sentences
Do is often used as an auxiliary verb in affirmative sentences. This happens especially in three cases: 1.- When we want to avoid repeating a verb which we have already used.

It’s important to listen to people carefully, and I usually do. She said she’d help me and she did.
‘Do you like anchovies?’ – ‘Yes I do.’ – ‘So do I.’
‘Do you mind if I sit here?’ – ‘No, do.’

2.- For ’emotive emphasis’, to show that we feel strongly about what we are saying.

You do look nice today.
I do like you.
She does talk a lot, doesn’t she? Do sit down!
Do shut up!

When do is used with imperatives (e g Do sit down!), it often makes an invitation sound more polite, welcoming or friendly.

Do come in! Do have another potato!

3.- For ‘contrastive emphasis’, to show a contrast between, for example, true and false, or present and past, or a rule and an exception.

‘Why didn’t you tell him?’ – ‘I did tell him.’
I don’t take much exercise now, but I did play football quite a bit when I was younger. I don’t have much contact with my family. I do see my mother occasionally, though.

III.2. SPECIAL USES OF MODAL AUXILIARIES:

WILL, WOULD, USED TO, SHOULD

1. Commands expressed by will in the affirmative

‘You will stay here till you are relieved,’ said the officer. ‘All boys will attend roll-call at nine o’clock (school notice)

This is a formal, impersonal type of command, similar to must or is/are to but more peremptory. It implies the speaker’s confidence that the order will be obeyed and is therefore much used in schools and in military, etc. establishments.

2. Present habits expressed by will

Habits in the present are normally expressed by the simple present tense; but will+infinitive can be used instead when we wish to emphasize the characteristic behaviour of the performer rather than the action performed. It is chiefly used in general statements:

An Englishman will usually show you the way in the street (it is normal for an Englishman to act this way).

3. Past habits expressed with used to and would

* The structure used to + infinitive only exists in the past. It refers to past habits and states. If we say that somebody used to do something we mean that some time ago he did it habitually but that he does not do it now. To express the same idea in the present, the present simple tense is usually enough. Compare:

He used to play cards a lot. He plays cards a lot.

Used to can have the forms either of an auxiliary verb (questions and negatives without do) or of an ordinary verb (with do). The do-forms are more informal.

Did you use to play cricket at school? (or: Used you to play…?)
I didn’t use to like opera, but now I’m getting interested. (Or: I used not to like opera..)

* Do not confuse used to + infinitive with the construction be used to. Be used to can be followed by a noun or an -ing form. It has quite a different meaning for used to + infinitive. If you say that somebody is used to (doing) something, you mean that he has done it or experienced it so often that it is no longer strange to him.

I’ve lived in Paris for six years now, so I’m quite used to the traffic.
When I was younger I was used to walking long distances, but now I’m out of practice.

* Would can also be used to talk about past habits

On Sundays he used to/would get up early and go fishing.
He used to/would spend the whole day by the river and in the evening used to/would come home with marvellous stories of the fish he had nearly caught.

Used to can be used to talk about states and situations as well as actions. Would can only be used for repeated actions.

I used to have an old Rolls Royce. (I would… is impossible in cases like this.) 20

4. Would rather/sooner + infinitive without to

There is no difference in meaning between these forms, but would rather is more often heard. would rather/sooner is a very useful way of expressing preference. I/he etc. would rather/sooner can be used instead of I prefer/he prefers.

He prefers reading to talking = He would rather read than talk I prefer being wise to rich = I’d rather be wise than rich
He prefers wine to beer = He would rather drink wine than beer

5. wish (that) + subject + would
* wish + subject + past tense can express regret for a present situation.

I wish I knew his address = I’m sorry I don’t know his address
I wish that he wrote more regularly = I’m sorry he doesn’t write more regularly.

* wish + subject + past perfect tense expresses regret for a past situation or action.

I wish I hadn’t said that.

* wish + subject + would can be used similarly, but only with actions which the subject can control, i.e. actions he could change if he wished.

wish + would here expresses interest in the subject’s willingness/unwillingness to perform the action: I wish he would write more often = I’m sorry he isn’t willing to write more often.

I wish he would wear a coat = I’m sorry he refuses to wear a coat.

6. Should in subordinate clauses
1.- Should is often used in subordinate clauses after in case, and sometimes after if. It makes an event

sound less probable (see unit III). Compare:

I’ll get some beer in case Aunt Mary comes. (She may come.)
I’ll get some beer in case Aunt Mary should come. (She might come). If you see Harry, give him my regards. (You may see him).
If you should see Harry, give him my regards. (You might see him.)

2.- Should is also used in adverbial clauses of purpose: a) with so that / in order that in past sentences. b) with in case / lest (for fear that) for all tenses.

He turned the stereo very low so that he shouldn’t disturb the old lady downstairs. (Or: …in order that he shouldn’t…)
I always keep candles in the house in case there should be a power cut. (Or: …in case there is…) He didn’t dare to leave the house lest someone should recognise him

3.- Should can be used in subordinate clauses when we are expressing the idea that something must be done, or is important. This happens after verbs like command, order, insist, request, ask, suggest, advise, recommend (especially in past sentences), and after adjectives like important, vital, essential, necessary, eager, anxious, concerned.

He insisted that the contract should be read aloud.
I recommended that you should reduce your expenditure. Was it necessary that my uncle should be informed?
I’m anxious that nobody should be hurt.

Ideas of this kind can also be expressed with the subjunctive (especially in American English) or in other, simpler ways.

Was is necessary that my uncle be informed?
Was it necessary to inform my uncle? (Or: …for my uncle to be informed?)

4.- Should is also used in subordinate clauses in sentences where we express personal reactions to events (for instance, with words like amazing, interesting, shocked, sorry, normal, natural, it’s a shame). In these cases, too, should is more common in past sentences. The subjunctive is not possible here instead of should.

It’s astonishing that she should say that sort of things to you. I was shocked that she shouldn’t have invited Phyllis.
I’m sorry you should think I did it on purpose.
Do you think it’s normal that the child should be so tired?

Sentences like these can be made without should. (I was shocked that she hadn’t invited Phyllips; I’m sorry you think…)